At the end of the 19th and the first decades of the 20th centuries, Brazilian intellectuals were concerned about the social and economic underdevelopment of Brazil, a country rich in natural resources. A thesis that gained prominence pointed to the “degeneration of the Brazilian race” as the primary cause for this lack of progress. This idea was rooted in European theories about “racial” inequality and the need to exercise control over stigmatized social groups. Fernando de Azevedo, a member and secretary of the Eugenics Society of Sao Paulo, attributed the physical and moral weakness of the Brazilian people to the miscegenation of the “race.” Influenced by Lamarck’s theory on the transmutation of species, Azevedo believed that the acquired characteristics could be transmitted to the following generations. He thus argued that Physical Education should be a regular activity in the schools, especially for female students, as a solution to regenerate the “Brazilian Race.”